Legacy owner dies of cancer

MANILA, Philippines - Celso de los Angeles, owner of the Legacy Group facing numerous cases of syndicated estafa, died of cancer last Tuesday morning.

His lawyer Noel Malaya said the businessman had been suffering from throat cancer since 2010.

The lawyer could not give other details on De los Angeles’ death and burial plans.

Malaya said he learned about De los Angeles’ death from an associate of the businessman.

It was not immediately clear where De los Angeles died.

“I would assume it’s in St. Luke’s (Medical Center in Quezon City),” Malaya said, noting his client was brought there early this year from Ormoc.

Marilen Lagniton, St. Luke’s vice president for corporate communications, however, said there was no record of De los Angeles being admitted in the hospital in the last few days.

De los Angeles faced charges of syndicated estafa over an alleged insurance and pension scam, affecting over a hundred thousand depositors in the Visayas after the collapse of 13 Legacy-member rural banks.

Questions came up about what would happen to these cases now that De los Angeles died.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the death of De Los Angeles extinguished only the criminal liability and not the administrative liability.

SEC spokesman Gerard Lukban said the charges filed by planholders and creditors against the Legacy Group of Companies may proceed independently even with death of De los Angeles, who had left behind a P30-billion financial mess.

Malaya, on the other hand, asked that the family of his client be left alone.

“I think they would want to be given the time to grieve... This is not the time to discuss what is legal,” he said.

“Let’s give them the time and the space that they need,” Malaya added. – Zinnia de la Peña